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Janelle Monáe - Electric Lady

Janelle Monáe - Electric Lady Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Electric Lady
Released: 2013

Electric Lady Lyrics

Electric Lady

This is the title track of the second studio album by the American recording artist Janelle Monáe. The record continues the utopian cyborg concepts of its predecessors and serves as the fourth and fifth installment of her seven-part Metropolis concept series.

The song (and album title) is a reference to an imaginary woman Monáe started painting when listening to her track "Mushrooms and Roses" whilst on tour. Each night she'd paint the same female silhouette until she'd produced over 100. Monáe brought up was the woman, during a visit to a shrink and the professional advised her to name her, and the Electric Lady was born.

Asked who the Electric Lady is, Monáe replied: "Someone who cares for the community, who has her own perspective on making love and what love is."

This song features Solange Knowles, who is the sister of Beyoncé. She is best known for her 2008 single, "I Decided," which was a Top 40 hit in several European countries.

The Electric Lady album cover is a drawing by New York artist Sam Spratt of Monáe plus her alter ego Cindi Merriweather alongside her four sisters. Spratt said in NME: "I took her and my own influences and made these disparate elements cohesive without being some sort of Frankenstein's monster."

The song's music video pays tribute to some of the Electric Ladies that came before. The clip starts off at at Monáe's home, where she says goodbye to her mom (yep, that's Janelle's real mother saying the opening monologue). She then heads off to a house party for the Electro Phi Betas alumnae, where we see TLC's T-Boz, Monica, Estelle, Esperanza Spalding and Kimbra singing along as framed photos on a wall of the college honorees.

Janelle's dance partner is rapper T.I. They supply some impressive moves choreographed by Fatima Robinson.

Janelle Monáe -PrimeTime

Janelle Monáe - PrimeTime Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Electric Lady
Released: 2013

PrimeTime Lyrics

Tick-tock, I'm watching the clock
I can't wait til we get to rock
I wanna scream and dream and throw a love parade
Is that okay?
Tonight is me and you alone
Won't make a call, won't even write a song
See I've been waiting and waiting for the time to say
Now listen babe

When you're down, and it's hard
And you feel like you've given your all
Baby our love will always keep it real and true

'Cause baby it's a prime time for our love
Ain't nobody peekin' but the stars above
It's a prime time for our love
And heaven is betting on us

Bang bang, I'm calling your name
You're like a fire the world can't tame
I wanna riot til the stars come out and play
Is that okay? Okay
Tonight is me and you alone
Won't take a call, won't even write a song
This'll be a personal private dance
Listen baby

When you're down, and it's hard
And you feel like you've given your all
Baby my love is always right here for you
Yeah

'Cause baby it's a prime time for our love
Ain't nobody peekin' but the stars above
It's a prime time for our love
And heaven is betting on us

It's a prime time for our love
Ain't nobody peekin' but the stars above
It's a prime time for our love
And heaven is betting on us

'Cause baby it's a prime time for our love
Ain't nobody peekin' but the stars above
It's a prime time for our love
And heaven is betting on us

Writer/s: PIMENTEL, MIGUEL JONTEL / IRVIN, NATHANIEL III / IRVIN, ROMAN / JOSEPH II, CHARLES DELBERT / ROBINSON, JANELLE MONAE
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

PrimeTime

This sensual R&B ballad about two people finding themselves in the right place at the right time finds Monáe duetting with Miguel. The sci-fi Soul songstress told A.V.Club how she hooked up with the Adorn singer: "The collaboration happened through our music and energy, being out there, and both of us were fans of one another," she said. "I read in interviews that he wanted to work with me, and I loved 'Adorn' and loved what he was doing. I loved that he was writing and producing his own music, and I thought that was really cool. So when I was ready to write the love song, I thought he was a great communicator to women and to people in general, and I wanted him to be a part of my vision for 'Primetime.' I was just honored to have the opportunity to produce him and work with him and honored that he trusted my guidance throughout the song."

The song's music video was directed by Alan Ferguson, who previously worked with Monáe on her "Many Moons" clip. The singer plays a bar waitress called Cindi Mayweather, thereby working in the 'Electric Lady' plotline from her album. Miguel plays first love Joey Vic. Monáe explained: "The Emotion Picture gives a glimpse at Cindi's humble beginnings as a 'cyber-server' at the Electric Sheep nightclub, a syn bar serving high-class 'show droids' to the rich and lonely in a dangerous section of Metropolis known as Slop City."

She added: "Incidentally, the innovative cybersoul music played at the club directly impacted Cindi, and she began singing and performing her own innovative compositions a short time after quitting this assignment. In addition, Cindi became determined to change the public perception of what an electric lady could be, dream and aspire to after working in the dismal conditions at the club."

Janelle Monáe - Can't Live Without Your Love

Janelle Monáe - Can't Live Without Your Love Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: The Electric Lady Released: 2013

Janelle Monáe - Can't Live Without Your Love Lyrics
Can't Live Without Your Love

This is a track from Janelle Monáe's second album, The Electric Lady, which continues the saga of her alter ego, Cindi Mayweather, a female android who is produced in the year 2719. According to the album's liner notes, this song reveals "Cindi's truest autobiographical feelings about her dangerous love affair with Anthony Greendown."

Janelle Monáe - Can't Live Without Your Love

Janelle Monáe - Can't Live Without Your Love Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: The Electric Lady Released: 2013

Janelle Monáe - Can't Live Without Your Love Lyrics
Can't Live Without Your Love

This is a track from Janelle Monáe's second album, The Electric Lady, which continues the saga of her alter ego, Cindi Mayweather, a female android who is produced in the year 2719. According to the album's liner notes, this song reveals "Cindi's truest autobiographical feelings about her dangerous love affair with Anthony Greendown."

Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence

Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Wednesday Morning, 3 AM
Released: 1966

The Sound of Silence Lyrics

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within The Sound of Silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools" said I
"You do not know, silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the signs said
"The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whisper'd in the sounds of silence

Writer/s: SIMON, PAUL
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The Sound of Silence Song Chart

The first recording was an acoustic version on Simon & Garfunkel's first album, Wednesday Morning, 3 AM, which was billed as "exciting new sounds in the folk tradition," and sold about 2000 copies. When the album tanked, Simon and Garfunkel split up. What they didn't know was that their record company had a plan. Trying to take advantage of the folk-rock movement, Columbia Records had producer Tom Wilson add electric instruments to the acoustic track. Simon and Garfunkel had no idea their acoustic song had been overdubbed with electric instruments, but it became a huge hit and got them back together. If Wilson had not reworked the song without their knowledge, Simon and Garfunkel probably would have gone their separate ways. When the song hit #1 in the States, Simon was in England and Garfunkel was at college.

Paul Simon was looking for a publishing deal when he presented this song to Tom Wilson at Columbia Records. Wilson thought it could work for a group called The Pilgrims, but Simon wanted to show him how it could work with two singers, so he and and Art Garfunkel sang it to the guys at Columbia Records, who were impressed with the duo and decided to sign them.

Paul Simon took six months to write the lyrics, which are about man's lack of communication with his fellow man. He averaged one line a day.

In an interview with Terry Gross of National Public Radio (NPR), Paul Simon explained how he wrote the song while working at his first job in music: "It was just when I was coming out of college. My job was to take the songs that this huge publishing company owned and go around to record companies and see if any of their artists wanted to record the songs. I worked for them for about six months and never got a song placed, but I did give them a couple of my songs because I felt so guilty about taking their money. Then I got into an argument with them and said, 'Look, I quit, and I'm not giving you my new song.' And the song that I had just written was 'The Sound of Silence.' I thought, 'I'll just publish it myself,' and from that point on I owned my own songs, so that was a lucky argument.

I think about songs that it's not just what the words say but what the melody says and what the sound says. My thinking is that if you don't have the right melody, it really doesn't matter what you have to say, people don't hear it. They only are available to hear when the sound entrances and makes people open to the thought. Really the key to 'The Sound of Silence' is the simplicity of the melody and the words, which are youthful alienation. It's a young lyric, but not bad for a 21-year-old. It's not a sophisticated thought, but a thought that I gathered from some college reading material or something. It wasn't something that I was experiencing at some deep, profound level - nobody's listening to me, nobody's listening to anyone - it was a post-adolescent angst, but it had some level of truth to it and it resonated with millions of people. Largely because it had a simple and singable melody."

This was one of the songs Simon & Garfunkel performed in 1964 when they were starting out and playing the folk clubs in Greenwich Village. It was their first hit.

Paul Simon was often compared to Bob Dylan, who was also signed to Columbia Records, and while Simon has acknowledged Dylan's influence on "The Sound Of Silence," he was never trying to measure up to Dylan. Simon told Mojo in 2000: "I tried very hard not to be influenced by him, and that was hard. 'The Sound Of Silence', which I wrote when I was 21, I never would have wrote it were it not for Bob Dylan. Never, he was the first guy to come along in a serious way that wasn't a teen language song. I saw him as a major guy whose work I didn't want to imitate in the least."

There is a Dylan connection on this song: The electric version was produced by Tom Wilson and finished by Bob Johnston, and both men had worked with Dylan. Wilson was Dylan's producer for about two years starting in 1963, and helped Dylan make the transition from acoustic folk to electric rock. Wilson went on to work with The Velvet Underground and later became a record company executive. Johnston was Dylan's producer until 1970.

This was used in the movie The Graduate. The film's director Mick Nichols put it on as a work track and was going to replace it, but as the film came together it became clear that the song was perfect for the film. Nichols didn't just use this song, but felt Simon & Garfunkel had a sound that fit the tone of the movie very well. They commissioned them to write "Mrs. Robinson" specifically for the movie, and also added "Scarborough Fair" and "April Come She Will" to the film.

This has a lot of meaning in the movie The Graduate. The lyrics refer to silence as a cancer, and if people in the movie had just been honest and not afraid to talk, all the messy things would not have happened. Problems can be solved only by honesty. (thanks, Stefan - Winona, MS)

Simon & Garfunkel did not write this about the Vietnam War, but by the time it became popular, the war was on and many people felt it made a powerful statement as an anti-war song.

In the US, this hit #1 on New Year's Day, 1966.

The opening line, "Hello darkness, my old friend," came from Simon's time as a boy when he would sing in the bathroom with the lights out, enjoying the acoustics from the tiles that provided a doo-wop reverb sound.

On February 23, 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited for the first time in 10 years to accept a lifetime achievement award and perform this at the opening of The Grammys. At the time, the US was preparing to invade Iraq, and while this could be heard as a political statement, Simon said it wasn't. He explained that they wanted to play this because it was their first hit.

At the Grammy Awards in 1967, Simon & Garfunkel were introduced by Dustin Hoffman, who made a name for himself when he starred in The Graduate. There was no host at The Grammys that year, so Hoffman was the first person seen when the show opened.

Despite its great popularity, Blender magazine voted this the 42nd worst song ever, remarking sardonically that "If Frasier Crane were a song, he would sound like this." The magazine's editor, Craig Marks, defended Blender's decision to include this much-loved song on their list, stating: "It's the freshman-poetry meaningfulness that got our goat, with self-important lyrics like 'hear my words that I might teach you', it's almost a parody of pretentious '60s folk-rock." The brief article on the song corresponding with this called the "hear my words" line "the most self-important... in rock history," and elaborated on Mark's remarks with: "Simon and Garfunkel thunder away in voices that suggest they're scowling and wagging their fingers as they sing. The overall experience is like being lectured on the meaning of life by a jumped-up freshman."

The band Gregorian covered this on their album Masters of Chant - as Gregorian chant. Nevermore also covered it on the album Dead Heart In A Dead World, and the German band Atrocity covered it on their 2000 album Gemini. As for their version's quality: Many people feel the band name was appropriate. (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada, for above 2)

This was used in the movie Old School in a scene where Will Ferrell falls into a pool. (thanks, Joel Riley - Berkley, MI)

The Bachelors, a three-piece vocal group from Ireland, recorded this in 1966 and hit #3 in the UK with their version. Simon & Garfunkel's version was not released as a single in England. (thanks, Phil - Bolton, England)

This song was parodied on The Simpsons in the fifth season episode "Lady Bouvier's Lover." The whole episode is very similar to The Graduate, and The Simpsons version plays over the end credits, after Grandpa and Mrs. Bouvier have left the church much as Benjamin and Elaine do in the movie. (thanks, Judah - San Francisco, CA)

Paul Simon didn't always enjoy performing his older songs, as he had a hard time making connections to songs he had written decades earlier. This was a source of contention for the duo, since Art Garfunkel felt that many of their popular songs were still relevant, and their audience wanted to hear them. He explained in a 1993 interview with Paul Zollo: "I want 'The Sound Of Silence' to get angry at the end as if it's timeless. The impoverished are screaming, 'F--k this unfair system,' just like they've always screamed it. It's a timeless thing. It lives, if you can make it live, onstage tonight like it did when it was written in '64."

There has been only one cover version of this song to make the US Hot 100: a 1971 release by Peaches & Herb that made #100. Some other notable covers are an extended Metal version by Nevermore on their 2000 album Dead Heart in a Dead World, and a 1996 rendition by the Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini.

Simon & Garfunkel performed this at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit in 1993 with Eddie Van Halen backing them on guitar.

The heavy metal band Disturbed surprised their fans by covering this for their 2015 Immortalized album. Guitarist Dan Donegan said they didn't want to cover up singer David Draiman's vocal with "loud, aggressive, and distorted guitars" on their version. He added: "We wanted to showcase his vulnerability and take a leftfield approach. The strings and violins really deepen it. It's something that might shock people because we went down a new path altogether. We did what felt right and saw the vision through."

The Clash - This Is Radio Clash

The Clash - This Is Radio Clash Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: The Essential Clash
Released: 1981

This Is Radio Clash Lyrics

Interrupting all programs

This Is Radio Clash from pirate satellite

Orbiting your living room,
Cashing in the bill of rights
Cuban army surplus or refusing all third lights
This is radio clash on pirate satellite

This sound does not subscribe
To the international plan
In the psycho shadow of the white right hand
Then that see ghettology as an urban Vietnam
Giving deadly exhibitions of murder by napalm

This is radio clash tearing up the seven veils
This is radio clash please save us, not the whales
This is radio clash underneath a mushroom cloud
This is radio clash
You don't need that funeral shroud

Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty

Hands of law have sorted through
My identity
But now this sound is brave
And wants to be free - anyway to be free

This is Radio clash on pirate satellite
This is not free Europe
Not an armed force network
This is Radio Clash using audio ammunition
This is Radio Clash can we get that world to listen?
This is Radio Clash using aural ammunition
This is Radio Clash can we get that world to listen?
This is Radio Clash on pirate satellite
Orbiting your living room,
Cashing in the bill of rights
This is radio Clash on pirate satellite
This is radio Clash everybody hold on tight

A-riggy diggy dig dang dang

Go back to urban 'nam

Writer/s: STRUMMER, JOE / JONES, MICK / SIMONON, PAUL / HEADON, TOPPER
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

This Is Radio Clash

The initial idea for "This Is Radio Clash" apparently came from a conversation between singer Joe Strummer, aide Kosmo Vinyl and manager Bernie Rhodes about the band setting up their own radio station. Having read Dispatches by Michael Herr, Strummer wrote the line "ghettology is an urban Vietnam" and later fleshed out the lyrics at Marcus Music in Kensington in April 1981 in the inaugural sessions before the song was completed at the Electric Lady studios in New York in November of that year.

Joe Strummer admitted in an interview with Melody Maker in 1988 that he had nicked the bassline from the Queen hit "Another One Bites The Dust" (which in itself shares many similarities with another Disco classic, Chic's "Good Times").

The song as a whole is the band's tribute to New York rap acts such as the Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - indeed, Strummer's sinister high-pitched laugh at the start of the song was directly inspired by Grandmaster Flash's "The Message."

Two sets of lyrics exist for "This Is Radio Clash" - the original, featuring references to the Bill of Rights, Napalm and the American Armed Forces Network, and a separate set that was recorded onto another take, later named just "Radio Clash." Confusingly they are both identical tracks bar the lyrics, and even feature as A and B sides on the single, which led to some mistakes in later re-releases - on the Story of the Clash Volume 1 compilation, the tracklisting lists "This Is Radio Clash," but it is in fact the "Radio Clash" version on the CD.

After the musical mish-mash of the Sandinista! album, many critics were hoping the band would get back to more traditional sound, which probably explains some of the more scathing reviews of this song when it came out, as critics tired of the band's dalliance with Hip-Hop influences. Gavin Martin, usually a supporter of the band, ripped it apart upon release in NME: "Another rag-bag of musical clichés and political simplifications sprawling, splintered fantasy which presents the zombified vision of would-be guerillas with rampant hysteria."

It's worth noting that many UK critics really took against The Clash from 1980 onwards when the band started spending more and more time in America, which in turn meant the band resented coming home more and more. Ironically, by the time of the 30th Anniversary of London Calling's release, NME were desperately trying to backtrack on their more negative comments from 1979-83, claiming that their original review of the album was highly rated. It wasn't!

Don Letts' music video for "This Is Radio Clash" drew on footage shot for the unreleased Clash on Broadway film, which was a documentary shot by Letts during 1981 as he accompanied The Clash on their New York residency in Bonds Casino, including two full gigs from their 16-gig stay at the venue across two weeks and footage of the band backstage and living life in New York. It was mooted for a November 1982 release, but perhaps due to turmoil within the band, the project was quietly forgotten about, and by 1994 Joe Strummer told Mojo magazine that "as far as I know the reels were stored in a rental place in New York. Bernie (Rhodes, their manager) forgot to pay the rent and the footage was destroyed."

A cutting copy of 30 minutes' worth of footage was found by Letts in a cupboard in the mid-1990s, and what is left of the film was put together for release on the Westway to the World DVD. One of the few surviving live performances from the Bonds shows is, ironically, of "This Is Radio Clash" in one of it's first live outings.

The Clash - If Music Could Talk

The Clash - If Music Could Talk Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Sandinista!
Released: 1980

If Music Could Talk Lyrics

Make sure!
Taking cover in the bunker tonight
Waiting for Bo Diddley's headlights
I feel alright
Gotta Fender Stratosphere
I can do anything tonight
It's in neon lights an' global rights
Frank? He's on the phone
There ain't no German girl outside
But who cares when its warm inside?
With music
Special mystery of music tragically
Exchanging slaves for majesties
Modern waves of tragedy
Packing a two piece colt pair of shoots
A shiny grey Mexican suit
The blue eyed traffic can sashay by
'Cause tonight the sailor boys have hit Shanghai
The kick-out traffic goes creaking by
I smash my glass and shout shanghai
My drummer friend comes shooting by
He said Errol Flynn will never die
Oh no! Who am I to question why?
And are you lonesome tonight
And do ya need a country cowboy
Who's just thin and tight in those
Br' bus depot jeans
With a squirt resistant stud stud
Hey stoner

Get over there in the spliff bunker one
Because London Bridge was sold somehow
But it was too old anyhow
When Uncle Sam has broken down
We'll make him down in old Japan
Say ye'

Well there ain't no better blend
Than Joe Ely and his Texas Men
Where the wind blows
I ain't seen none like that scenery
You can see from a bus if you pay the price

Wave my arms around
Flag one of those taxi's maybe
I saw a girl somewhere somehow
Forever sticks in my mind somehow
I've just got three lines
And a pair of two's
Like a lucky roll of dice that you
You cast

If Music Could Talk!
Which means
Whatever your mind can bring
Like the apple fell off the tree
Pah! Fell right on his head
Yeah many years ago

There was a man who said
I am a shaman
A voodoo shaman
Got in trouble so he's going out
Mixing up and Haiti! Oh!
And the crickets
Buddy Holly said it was
Br' br' yee'

If music could talk you know

I feel kinda lonely
Standing out on the floor
Of Electric Ladyland

'cause this is a good question Samson
Are you partly Arabic?

Chi man! Whatcho all about

I don't want to I can't hope to
Say it all in one go
Occasionally once or twice
A day I feel alive enough to say
Let's hear what the drummer man's
Got to say about
He said is it Errol Flynn's birthday or not?
Sept twelfth until October
If they pack two piece
Colt pair of shoots
We got the shiny grey Mexican suits
I'm just wasting a great big
Corporation and the entire fund
The girders of Wall Street
And the temples of money
And the high priests
Of the expense account
And I'm wasting the whole thing
I come down in Yamaha-ha
They make the best pianos-time to step-up

Writer/s: JOE STRUMMER, MICK JONES, PAUL SIMONON, TOPPER HEADON
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

If Music Could Talk

The backing track to "If Music Could Talk" is in fact another one of the songs on the Sandinista! album: "Shepherd's Delight," which was recorded at Pluto Studios two months previously with producer Mikey Dread. The band decided to revisit the track, and singer Joe Strummer added a stream-of-consciousness set of lyrics about New York city, including a plethora of references to Joe Ely , Errol Flynn, singer Bo Diddley (whom The Clash had toured with in 1979), Buddy Holly, Jim Morrison and Elvis Presley's song "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"

There are also personal references to The Clash themselves, including the Electric Lady studios they had worked, lighting engineer Warren "Stoner" Steadman, and his own "spliffbunker," which was a nest-type contraption Strummer built in whichever studio the band were recording in out of flight cases where he would sit and write songs in peace whilst recording took place elsewhere in the studio.

Production tricks abound on this song, as they do throughout the album. In this case, Joe Strummer double-tracked his vocals, putting one track in the left channel and another in the right to create an all-encompassing sound. Gary Barnacle, session musician and longtime friend of the band, added jazzy saxophone interludes when the song was recorded in Wessex studios in August 1980.

As it's possible to tell from the backing track complexity, this never featured in The Clash's live set, probably because the band just wouldn't be able to do it justice in concert.

The Clash - Cool Confusion

The Clash - Cool Confusion Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Super Black Market Clash
Released: 1981

Cool Confusion Lyrics

Between Cool Confusion
And kung fu in the car park
Could the weekend be losing
That reactive spark

Even in the shebeen
Or down in the meat rack
Longtime I feel cold
To send Cinderella's shoe back

Along the length of the wire
Party jam on the line
I can't hear a thing
Can't get no number nine

Now we must get in touch
If the night is to burn
Someone out there in luck
Lend me your star for a turn

As heroes fix their hair
Some are saving their breath
Just on the walkways tonight
For a glue bag death

Screens flick in unison
Some gaze at the soul
From the tiers and the heights
Go for the fifteenth floor stroll

It's immediately obvious;
Anybody star-gilt
Would have left this club
Way before it was built

This strikes you so late
As the guy with the broom
Sweeps you and the bottles
Right out of the room

Now I wash in the factory
Confess in the tile house
I don't need to bleed anybody
To strike out

Today my godfather
He sent a note from the jail
Said go get 'em kid
But don't get chained to the rail

Between cool confusion
And kung fu in the car park
Could the weekend be losing
That romantic spark

Even in the shebeen
Or down in the meat rack
Long time I feel cold
To send Cinderella's shoe back

Writer/s: JOE STRUMMER, MICK JONES, PAUL SIMONON, TOPPER HEADON
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Cool Confusion

Collectively credited to the band as a whole, the lyrics were mostly written by singer Joe Strummer, who explained his inspiration for them: a visit to New York's famous Studio 54 disco nightclub. "I started to notice that stars with big egos would always swan into places, make an appearance, and swan out again. Whenever we went out, we'd always be in a place for the duration."

The lyrics reflect this, with references to superficial celebrity: "lend me your start for a turn, as heroes fix their hair."

"Cool Confusion" was recorded in the Combat Rock sessions at the Electric Lady studios in November/December 1981, and though it didn't make the album, it became one of the B-sides to the US release of "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" It ended up not getting a UK release until it appeared on the rarities compilation Super Black Market Clash.

The song is described by the band as "semi-electro dub-funk," and shows influences from their former producer and Dub Reggae star Lee "Scratch" Perry.

Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime

Mungo Jerry - In the Summertime Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: In the Summertime
Released: 1970

In the Summertime Lyrics

Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh

In the Summertime when the weather is hot
You can stretch right up and touch the sky
When the weather's fine
You got women, you got women on your mind
Have a drink, have a drive
Go out and see what you can find

If her daddy's rich take her out for a meal
If her daddy's poor just do what you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a ton or a ton an' twenty-five
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make it good in a lay-by

We're no threat, people
We're not dirty, we're not mean
We love everybody but we do as we please
When the weather's fine
We go fishin' or go swimmin' in the sea
We're always happy
Life's for livin' yeah, that's our philosophy

Sing along with us
Dee dee dee-dee dee
Dah dah dah-dah dah
Yeah we're hap-happy
Dah dah-dah
Dee-dah-do dee-dah-do dah-do-dah
Dah-do-dah-dah-dah
Dah-dah-dah do-dah-dah

Alright ah

Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh

When the winter's here, yeah it's party time
Bring your bottle, wear your bright clothes
It'll soon be summertime
And we'll sing again
We'll go drivin' or maybe we'll settle down
If she's rich, if she's nice
Bring your friends and we'll all go into town

Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh, Chh chh-chh

In the summertime when the weather is hot
You can stretch right up and touch the sky
When the weather's fine
You got women, you got women on your mind
Have a drink, have a drive
Go out and see what you can find

If her daddy's rich take her out for a meal
If her daddy's poor just do what you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a ton or a ton an' twenty-five
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make it good in a lay-by

We're no threat, people
We're not dirty, we're not mean
We love everybody but we do as we please
When the weather's fine
We go fishin' or go swimmin' in the sea
We're always happy
Life's for livin' yeah, that's our philosophy

Sing along with us
Dee dee dee-dee dee
Dah dah dah-dah dah
Yeah we're hap-happy
Dah dah-dah
Dee-dah-do dee-dah-do dah-do-dah
Dah-do-dah-dah-dah

Writer/s: DORSET, RAY
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

In the Summertime

This buoyant tune was written by Ray Dorset, who was the group's lead singer and guitarist. He penned the song in 1968 when he was working for Timex in the UK - his band was just getting started and music was more of a hobby at the time. Dorest says that the famous melody just popped into his head one day, and the next day he wrote the lyrics very quickly.

"It's got no chorus; all it's got is a melody that goes over and over again with a set of lyrics that conjure up a celebration of life," he said. "Especially if you're a young person: it's a great day, you've managed to get a car - preferably with the top off - you're cruising around, and if you're a guy you're picking up girls."

The band was known as Memphis Leather and The Good Earth before getting a record deal and changing their name to Mungo Jerry (after the character Mungojerrie from the T. S. Eliot book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - later the basis for the Broadway play Cats).

Barry Murray, a producer at Pye Records, was a friend of Ray Dorset's and signed the group to the label's more adventurous imprint, Dawn Records, which released "In The Summertime" as their first single. The song took off, going to #1 in their native UK and making #3 in America. The UK fortunes of the song were aided by the group's appearance at the Hollywood Music Festival in Staffordshire England on May 23, 1970, shortly after the song was released. Playing on low on a bill with the Grateful Dead, Black Sabbath, Free and Traffic, the song got the attention of the 35,000 or so fans in attendance, giving it a huge lift.

The American appeal of this song can be attributed to the lyrical inspiration: American beach movies that lead singer Ray Dorset grew up watching. "That was the teenage dream," he said. "What more can you want?"

There is some very interesting instrumentation on this track. Ray Dorset did the vocals and played guitars (acoustic and electric), as well as a shaker instrument called cabasa. Paul King played banjo and jug; Mike Cole played string bass; Colin Earl played piano.

Note that there are no drums, although you can hear Dorset stomping his foot to the rhythm. This was influenced by John Lee Hooker, who often used his foot as a percussion instrument.

Another structural anomaly: the title is repeated just twice in the song.

Few songs have endured like this one, which finds its way onto playlists every summer and is constantly being commissioned for movies, TV shows and commercials. "It's an honor for me to have a song that I wrote that people want to associate with so many different moods and feelings and events," Ray Dorset said. "The longer it goes on, the more it becomes like 'Happy Birthday,' because when everybody thinks of the summer, they think of 'In The Summertime.'"

Around the two-minute mark, the song stops and we hear a car drive by, punctuating the line, "we'll all go into town." This was a recording of the engineer's sports car driving by the studio.

The band made a video for this song, which some UK groups did to promote their wares on European TV shows. Like most videos of the time, it's a performance piece, but thanks to the jug and upright bass it was a very unusual performance. Also distinguishing the video: lead singer Ray Dorset's sweet mutton chops, scarf and fishnet shirt.

The Reggae artist Shaggy covered this in 1995. His version, which features the singer Rayvon, reached #5 in the UK. Ray Dorset re-recorded his guitar part for Shaggy's version.

In the UK, this was issued as a "maxi-single," which was a 7-inch record played at 33 1/3 RPM instead of the standard 45, which allowed for more music in the limited space. Also included on the single were two other songs: "Mighty Man" and "Dust Pneumonia Blues."

In the US, "In The Summertime" was issued as a standard single and also included on the album of the same name. In the UK, the group's first album was called Mungo Jerry, and did not include this song.

Mungo Jerry never again charted in the US, but fared very well in the UK, where the following year "Baby Jump" went to #1 and "Lady Rose" made #5. The group scored five more Top 40 UK hits by 1974. They have since been sporadically active under Ray Dorset's guidance with a number of different lineups.

This sold over 16 million copies worldwide and was Britain's biggest-selling single in 1970. In that territory, it really was the "song of the summer," peaking in June that year. By the time the song caught on in America, summer was coming to an end - it reached it's peak position on September 12.

Some of the many TV shows to use this song include:

The Simpsons (2004)
Life on Mars (2007)
New Girl (2014)

Movies include:
The Substitute (1996)
Breaking Out (1999)
Mr. Deeds (2002)
Anita and Me (2002)
Wedding Crashers (2005)
Despicable Me 2 (2013)

Funk by The Clash - Overpowered

Funk by The Clash - Overpowered Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Combat Rock
Released: 1982

Overpowered Lyrics

If you ain't reggae for it, funk out
No-one knocking at your door, funk out
Overpowered by funk, funk out
It's combatative, repetitive
Don't life just funk you out?
Asinine, stupefying
Can the clone-line dry you out?
Part of the swarming mass, funk out
Slugged by the new increase, funk out
Scared of the human bomb, funk out
Overpowered by funk, funk out
Buy dog food, rogue elephants
Tarzan on a ticker tape
Ooo-ooh
Breakfast cereals
You know you can't escape
Overpowered by funk
Don't you love our Western ways?
Car crashed by funk
Don't you love our Western ways?
Benny Goodman, trial by jury
A phone box-full of books
"It's morning, you know!"
Dustcarts at sunrise
No-one gets off the hooks
Car crashed

Food for the hungry millions, funk out!
Home for the floating people, funk out!
Over-drunk on power
This is a message from Futura, don't prophisize the future
I liven up the culture because I'm deadly as a vulture
I paint on civilization, I had this realization
It's environmentally wack, so presenting my attack
You know, I'll brighten up your shack
I'm down by law and that's a fact
Just give me a wall, any building, dull or tall
I spray clandestine night subway
I cover with red-purple on top of grey, hey
No slashing cause it ain't the way, the T.A. blew forty mil' they say
We threw it down by night and they scrubbed it off by day
OK tourists, picture frame, tickets here for the graffiti train
Funk power
Over-and-out
Funk-funk-funk, funk-funk-funk-funk-funk
Funk-funk-funk, funk-funk-funk-funk-funk, ha
Funk power, ha!
Funk power

Writer/s: STRUMMER, JOE / JONES, MICK / HEADON, TOPPER
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Overpowered

This song was written at the Ear Studios rehearsals in September 1981, and recorded in the Electric Lady studios in December 1981, featuring additional instrumentation in the form of keyboards by Poly Mandell and a rap section by Futura 2000, graffiti artist and friend of the band. He had toured with the band for the previous two years, spray-painting a graffiti stage backdrop whilst the band played, and joining them live onstage for an improvised rap song once he had finished his work. He even references his graffiti work on the New York subway trains in his rap ("The T.A. blew forty mil they say, we threw down by night, they scrubbed it off by day").

There are rumors that Futura 2000 recorded a standalone track, "The Escapades of Futura 2000" in these sessions too, but if he did it has never been released.

"Overpowered By Funk" is very much a continuation of the themes and musical styles first experimented with on "The Magnificent Seven." It is a heavy Funk track with freeform lyrics referencing capitalism ("Don't you love our Western ways?"), the Vietnam War ("Home for the floating people? Skin for the napalm victim?"), capital punishment ("Fry me in your shockin' chairs") and even using the Funk genre of music to represent the repetitive boredom of being stuck in a dead-end job ("Combative, repetitive, don't life just funk you out?"). It also includes subtle references to Tarzan and Benny Goodman.

Like "The Magnificent Seven," this song was remixed multiple times by rap radio stations in New York, and a bootleg exists of an extended six-minute-plus instrumental remix of the song.

This was only played by The Clash a handful of times - in their Paris residency in September 1981- before being dropped again. Presumably with "The Magnificent Seven" still being a massive fan favorite in The Clash's set, there wasn't room for another rap/funk song with lengthy instrumental sections and improv lyrics.

The Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar

The Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Sticky Fingers
Released: 1971

Brown Sugar Lyrics

Gold Coast slave ship bound for cotton fields
Sold in the market down in New Orleans
Scarred old slaver knows he's doin' all right
Hear him whip the women just around midnight

Brown Sugar, how come you taste so good
Brown Sugar, just like a young girl should

Drums beatin' cold, English blood runs hot
Lady of the house wonderin' when it's gonna stop
House boy knows that he's doin' all right
You should have heard him just around midnight

Brown Sugar, how come you taste so good
Brown Sugar, just like a young girl should

Brown Sugar, how come you dance so good
Brown Sugar, just like a black girl should

I bet your mama was a Cajun Queen,
And all her boyfriends were sweet sixteen
I'm no school boy but I know what I like
You should have heard them just around midnight

Brown Sugar, how come you taste so good
Brown Sugar, just like a black girl should

I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, wooo
How come you, how come you dance so good
Yeah, yeah, yeah, wooo
Just like a, just like a black girl should
Yeah, yeah, yeah, wooo

Writer/s: RICHARDS, KEITH / JAGGER, MICK
Publisher: Abkco Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Brown Sugar Song Chart

The lyric is about slaves from Africa who were sold in New Orleans and raped by their white masters. The subject matter is quite serious, but the way the song is structured, it comes off as a fun rocker about a white guy having sex with a black girl. (thanks, Phil - Palo Alto, CA)

Mick Jagger wrote the lyric. According to Bill Wyman, it was partially inspired by a black backup singer named Claudia Lennear, who was one of Ike Turner's backup singers (Ikettes). Jagger and her met when The Stones toured with Turner in 1969. David Bowie also wrote his Aladdin Sane track "Lady Grinning Soul" about her.

American-born singer Marsha Hunt is also sometimes cited as the inspiration for the song. She and Jagger met when she was a member of the cast in the London production of the musical Hair, and their relationship, a closely guarded secret until 1972, resulted in a daughter, Karis.

According to the book Up And Down With The Rolling Stones by Tony Sanchez, all the slavery and whipping is a double meaning for the perils of being "mastered" by Brown Heroin, or "Brown Sugar." (thanks, Kyle - Wichita, KS)

The Rolling Stones recorded this in the musically rich but luxury deprived city of Sheffield, Alabama, where Jerry Wexler of the group's label, Atlantic Records, often sent his acts. The Stones arrived in Sheffield on December 2, 1969, stayed until the 4th, then performed their fateful Altamont Speedway concert on December 6, where they performed this song live for the first time. At the show, a fan was stabbed to death by a Hell's Angels security guard.

During their three days in Alabama, The Stones recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, which opened in May 1969 when four of the musicians from FAME Studios left to establish their own company. "Wild Horses" and "You Gotta Move" also came out of these sessions, making it a very productive stop. The engineer at the Muscle Shoals sessions was Jimmy Johnson, the producer/guitarist who was one of the studio's founders. The Rolling Stones engineer Glyn Johns added overdubs in England (including horns), but he left Johnson's mix intact. Johnson says that Johns called him from England to compliment him on the mix.

Even though this was recorded in December 1969, The Stones did not release it until April 1971 because of a legal dispute with their former manager, Allen Klein, over royalties. Recording technology had advanced by then, but they didn't re-record it because the original version was such a powerful take.

Mick Jagger started writing this while he was filming the movie Ned Kelly in the Australian outback. He's been in a few movies, including Performance, Freejack and The Man From Elysian Fields. Jagger recalled to Uncut in 2015: "I wrote it in the middle of a field, playing an electric guitar through headphones, which was a new thing then."

In Keith Richards' 2010 autobiography Life, it floats a theory as to what the lyrics "Scarred old slaver know he doin' alright" are all about. Some poor guy at their publishing company probably came up with that transcription for the lyrics, but Jagger was most likely singing, "Skydog Slaver," as "Skydog" was a nickname for Muscle Shoals regular Duane Allman, since he was high all the time. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

A year after this was first recorded, The Stones cut another version at Olympic Studios in London with Eric Clapton on guitar and Al Kooper on keyboards. It was considered for release as the single, but was shelved until 2015 when it appeared the a Sticky Fingers reissue.

Originally, Mick Jagger wrote this as "Black Pussy." He decided that was a little too direct and changed it to "Brown Sugar."

This was the first song released on Rolling Stones Records, The Stones subsidiary label of Atlantic Records. They used the now-famous tongue for their logo.

The album cover was designed by Andy Warhol. It was a close-up photo of a man wearing tight jeans, and contained a real zipper. This caused considerable problems in shipping, but was the kind of added value that made the album much more desirable (you don't get this kind of stuff with CDs or downloads).

Sticky Fingers also marked the first appearance of the famous tongue and lips logo, which was printed on the inner sleeve. The logo was designed by John Pasche, who was fresh out of art school (the Royal College of Art in London).

This was used in commercials for Kahlua and Pepsi. The Stones have made big bucks licensing their songs for ads. (thanks, Whitney - Houston, TX)

The fortunate souls who got to see The Rolling Stones on their nine-date UK tour in 1971 got a preview of this song, since it was included on the setlist even though Sticky Fingers wouldn't be released for another month.

This was one of four songs The Stones had to agree not to play when they were allowed to perform in China. After getting approval to play in China for the first time in 2003, they canceled because of SARS, a respiratory illness that was going around the country.

Jimmy Johnson, who was a guitar player for the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (also known as "The Swampers"), engineered the sessions that produced this song as well as "Wild Horses" and "You Gotta Move." Johnson worked with many artists, including Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Johnnie Taylor. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

This has been covered by Mos Def and ZZ Top. Bob Dylan often performed it on his 2002 US tour. (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada)

In 327BC Alexander the Great came across the cultivation of sugar cane in India. From this reed, a dark brown sugar was extracted from the cane by chewing and sucking. Some of this "sweet reed" was sent back to Athens. This was the first time a European had come across sugar. (From the book Food for Thought: Extraordinary Little Chronicles of the World by Ed Pearce)

The bootleg version which has Eric Clapton playing lead slide guitar was recorded at a birthday party for Keith Richards. It is widely considered to have been part of an informal audition by Clapton to become The Stones second guitarist. The bootleg version shows why Clapton likely did not get offered the job, or withdrew himself from consideration: While Clapton plays a million notes a minute, his lead has almost no interaction with the rest of the band. It is like a studio musician simply playing along with a CD that has already been recorded.

In many interviews, Richards has spoken admiringly of his good friend Clapton's musicianship, but has always commented that the two-guitar sound he and Ron Wood have developed is not Eric's cup of tea. (thanks, David - Orlando, FL)

This features Bobby Keys on saxophone. A favorite of The Rolling Stones, having guested notably on Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street, he was also heard on John Lennon and Elton John's hit "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" and on classic albums like George Harrison's All Things Must Pass and Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On.

The Guess Who - American Woman

The Guess Who - American Woman Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: American Woman
Released: 1970

American Woman Lyrics

American Woman, I'm gonna mess your mind
American woman, you gonna mess your mind
American woman, I'm gonna mess your mind
American woman, I'm gonna mess your mind

Say A, say M, say E
Say R, say I, C
Say A, N

American woman, I'm gonna mess your mind
American woman, you gonna mess your mind
American woman, I'm gonna mess your mind

American woman, stay away from me
American woman, mama let me be
Don't come a hangin' around my door
I don't want to see your face no more
I got more important things to do
Than spend my time growin' old with you
Now woman, I said stay away
American woman, listen what I say

American woman, get away from me
American woman, mama let me be
Don't come a knockin' around my door
Don't want to see your shadow no more
Colored lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now woman, I said get away
American woman, listen what I say-ay-ay-ay

American woman, said get away
American woman, listen what I say
Don't come a hangin' around my door
Don't want to see your face no more
I don't need your war machines
I don't need your ghetto scenes
Colored lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now woman, get away from me
American woman, mama let me be

Go, gotta get away, gotta get away now go, go, go
I'm gonna leave you woman
Gonna leave you woman
Bye-bye bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye
You're no good for me
I'm no good for you
Gonna look you right in the eye
Tell you what I'm gonna do
You know I'm gonna leave
You know I'm gonna go
You know I'm gonna leave
You know I'm gonna go-o, woman
I'm gonna leave you woman
Goodbye American woman

Writer/s: RANDY BACHMAN, BURTON CUMMINGS, GARY PETERSON, MICHAEL KALE
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

American Woman Song Chart

One of the most misinterpreted songs ever, this is often heard as a patriotic ode or a tribute to American women. It's usually American listeners who arrive at the jingoistic conclusions, ignoring a very clear lyric: "American Woman, get away from me."

The Guess Who are Canadian, and Burton Cummings (the song's lyricist) insists it has nothing to do with American pride. "What was on my mind was that girls in the States seemed to get older quicker than our girls and that made them, well, dangerous," Cummings told the Toronto Star in 2014. "When I said 'American woman, stay away from me,' I really meant 'Canadian woman, I prefer you.' It was all a happy accident."

Some songs take months to write, others come quickly in writing sessions or during studio jams. This one, however, had a much more spontaneous genesis: it was written on stage. Randy Bachman explained the origins in our interview. The band was playing a show at a curling rink in Ontario when he broke a string on his guitar. In those days, that meant stopping the show until he could replace it. His bandmates left the stage, and Bachman put a new string on his '59 Les Paul. The next challenge was getting it in tune (he didn't have a tech or even a tuner in those days), so he went in front of Burton Cummings' electric piano and hit the E and B notes to give him reference. As he tuned his guitar a riff developed, then something magical happened.

"I started to play that riff on stage, and I look at the audience, who are now milling about and talking amongst themselves," Bachman said. "And all their heads snapped back. Suddenly I realize I'm playing a riff I don't want to forget, and I have to keep playing it. So I stand up and I'm playing this riff. I'm alone on stage."

The band's drummer Garry Peterson, who had made his way to the audience, jumped on stage and started playing. Bassist Jim Kale heard the ruckus and joined them, and finally Burton Cummings came up and grabbed the microphone. "Sing something!" Bachman implored him. Burton obliged: the first words out of his mouth were, "American woman, stay away from me."

In our interview with Randy Bachman , he called this "an antiwar protest song," explaining that when they came up with it on stage, but the band and the audience had a problem with the Vietnam War. Said Bachman: "We had been touring the States. This was the late '60s, they tried to draft us, send us to Vietnam. We were back in Canada, playing in the safety of Canada where the dance is full of draft dodgers who've all left the States."

The lines where the anti-Vietnam sentiment are most apparent are "I don't want your war machines, I don't want your ghetto scenes."

According to Burton Cummings, this song owes its creation to a piece of modern technology: a portable cassette recorder. He says that after his ad-libbed performance of the song, they discovered a kid in the crowd who was bootlegging the concert using the device (this is when bootlegging meant literally strapping the recorder to your leg). Listening back to his tape, they were able to jot down the words to recreate the lyric.

Fortunately for The Guess Who, American radio stations either didn't hear this as a protest song or didn't care. With a monster riff and the word "American" in the title, it was embraced and quickly added to playlists. By this time, the band were proven hitmakers, having scored with "These Eyes," "Laughing" and "No Time," so this single was widely anticipated. "Radio just played it automatically without even thinking we were saying antiwar words in there," Bachman told us.

This song's American success made The Guess Who stars in that country, and on July 17, 1970 they performed on the White House lawn for President Richard Nixon, whose daughter Tricia was a huge fan and asked her dad to bring them in.

It was a huge hit at the time, but The Guess Who didn't perform "American Woman" that day because they were asked not to "as a matter of taste." That request came from the press liaison for first lady Pat Nixon, who may have been turned off by what she perceived as anti-American sentiment or political overtones
in the song.

The performance served as a royal reception for Prince Charles and Princess Anne, who were guests at the White House. Looking back on the performance in 2014, Burton Cummings said it was a very stodgy affair, and that he felt the band was brought in to impress the royal guests. "It left a bad taste in my mouth," he told the Winnipeg Free Press. "They wanted a Commonwealth act when Charles and Anne went there. We were the token Commonwealthers."

The first time the band performed this in completed form was before 150,000 people at the Seattle Pop Festival in 1969. The crowd loved it even though they had never heard it.

Randy Bachman calls the distinctive guitar sound he used on this song "The Herzog." To get the effect, he would overdrive the preamp (setting it to 9 or 10) while the normal volume settings are turned down. The sound does not get any louder, but gradually it grows dirtier and finally ends up creating a cello-like effect.

Recorded at RCA Studios in Chicago with producer Jack Richardson, this was released as a double A-side with "No Sugar Tonight" and stayed at #1 in the US for three weeks. The Guess Who were already huge in Canada, but this broke them in the States.

In the late-'90s, this was used in a variety of commercials, including one for Tommy Hilfiger and another for Castrol motor oil. Nike also used in an ad featuring women's soccer.

Lenny Kravitz covered this in 1999, making #49 US. His version was used in the movie Austin Powers 2, The Spy Who Shagged Me.

Kravitz and The Guess Who performed this September 21, 2000 at the MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto. The Guess Who were given a lifetime achievement award.

The album version contains a sultry 1:05 acoustic intro, with Cummings spelling out the title ("I say 'A'... I say 'M'...). Radio stations often skipped past it to get to the riff.

Randy Bachman left the group the month after this hit #1 in America because the band's lifestyle did not jibe with his religious beliefs. Because of his departure, they did not tour the US when this was hot, which could have made them a lot of money.

The Guess Who reunited and toured in 2000, 30 years after this was a hit.

This was featured in the Jim Carrey movie The Cable Guy, where it appears in a Karaoke scene, and American Beauty, where Kevin Spacey rocks out to it while going through a mid-life crisis.

Jack Richardson, who produced this song, was also responsible for other big hits like The Guess Who's "These Eyes" and Bob Seger's "Night Moves." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

Acts to cover this song include Krokus and Ringo Starr. Perhaps the most bizarre cover is by the Butthole Surfers, who released their version in 1986.

Bob Dylan - Desolation Row

Bob Dylan - Desolation Row Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Highway 61 Revisited
Released: 1965

Desolation Row Lyrics

They're selling postcards of the hanging, they're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors, the circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner, they've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker, the other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless, they need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight, from Desolation Row

Cinderella, she seems so easy, "It takes one to know one," she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning. "You Belong to Me I Believe"
And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend, you'd better leave"
And the only sound that's left after the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up on Desolation Row

Now the moon is almost hidden, the stars are beginning to hide
The fortune telling lady has even taken all her things inside
All except for Cain and Abel and the hunchback of Notre Dame

Everybody is making love or else expecting rain
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing, he's getting ready for the show
He's going to the carnival tonight on Desolation Row

Ophelia, she's 'neath the window for her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday she already is an old maid
To her, death is quite romantic she wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion, her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon Noah's great rainbow
She spends her time peeking into Desolation Row

Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood with his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago with his friend, a jealous monk
Now he looked so immaculately frightful as he bummed a cigarette
And he when off sniffing drainpipes and reciting the alphabet
You would not think to look at him, but he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin on Desolation Row

Dr. Filth, he keeps his world inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients, they're trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser, she's in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read, "Have Mercy on His Soul"
They all play on the penny whistles, you can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough from Desolation Row

Across the street they've nailed the curtains, they're getting ready for the feast
The Phantom of the Opera in a perfect image of a priest
They are spoon feeding Casanova to get him to feel more assured
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence after poisoning him with words
And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls, "Get outta here if you don't know"
Casanova is just being punished for going to Desolation Row"

At midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone that knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders and then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles by insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping to Desolation Row

Praise be to Nero's Neptune, the Titanic sails at dawn
Everybody's shouting, "Which side are you on?!"
And Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them and fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much about Desolation Row

Yes, I received your letter yesterday, about the time the doorknob broke
When you asked me how I was doing, was that some kind of joke
All these people that you mention, yes, I know them, they're quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces and give them all another name
Right now, I can't read too good, don't send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them from Desolation Row

Writer/s: BOB DYLAN
Publisher: BOB DYLAN MUSIC CO
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Desolation Row

The opening lines of this song ("They're selling postcards of the hanging, they're painting the passports brown...") refer to three men who were in town with the circus and were accused of raping a girl in Duluth, Minnesota. On June 15, 1920, a mob broke them out of jail and lynched them. Postcards with pictures of the hanging were sold as souvenirs. Dylan's father, Abraham Zimmerman, was 8 years old and living in Duluth at the time of the hangings.

This is the last track on the album. It is eleven minutes long, and was Dylan's longest song up to that point. Dylan rarely plays it at concerts, but when he does, it can stretch out to 45 minutes. (thanks Abram - Los Angeles, California)

When trying to interpret this song, keep in mind that Dylan was experimenting with LSD around the time he recorded it.

This was never released as a single, probably due to its length, but the Highway 61 Revisited album went to #3 US and #4 UK.

Dylan performed this for the first time at the Forest Hills Music Festival in Queens, New York on August 28, 1965, after he electrified the Newport Folk Festival. It was part of the acoustic set Dylan played before bringing on his electric band.

Live versions are included on Dylan's MTV Unplugged, and Live 1966.

This was covered by My Chemical Romance for the end credits of the 2009 superhero movie Watchmen.

This was the first Bob Dylan recording that bassist and guitarist Charlie McCoy played on. He would go on to contribute to every Dylan album from 1965 to 1970. His initial contribution, however, was the result of an apparent accident.

When McCoy was in New York for a visit, his friend, producer Bob Johnston, arranged for him to go and see a Broadway show. Johnston suggested that he drop by the nearby Columbia Studios to pick up the tickets. "He introduced me to Dylan," recalled McCoy to Uncut magazine March 2014, "and he said to me, 'I'm getting ready to record a song, why don't you pick up the other guitar and play?' We had time for one take, one playback and then for another session. And that was 'Desolation Row'."

Stevie Wonder - Superstition

Stevie Wonder - Superstition Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos
Album: Talking Book
Released: 1973

Superstition Lyrics

Very superstitious, writing on the wall
Very superstitious, ladders bout' to fall
Thirteen month old baby, broke the lookin' glass
Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past
When you believe in things that you don't understand
Then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way

Very superstitious, wash your face and hands
Rid me of the problem, do all that you can
Keep me in a daydream, keep me goin' strong
You don't wanna save me, sad is my song
When you believe in things that you don't understand
Then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way, yeh, yeh

Very superstitious, nothin' more to say
Very superstitious, the devil's on his way
Thirteen month old baby, broke the lookin' glass
Seven years of bad luck, good things in your past
When you believe in things that you don't understand
Then you suffer, superstition ain't the way, no, no, no

Writer/s: WONDER, STEVIE
Publisher: EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Superstition Song Chart

Wonder wrote this about the dangers of believing in superstitions. Some of the bad luck superstitions he alludes to include walking under a ladder, breaking a mirror (said to bring seven years of bad luck), and the number 13.

This was intended for Jeff Beck, who was brought in to play some guitar parts on the album in exchange for a song. At one of the sessions, Stevie came up with the riff and wrote some lyrics, and they recorded a rough version of the song that day for Beck. It took Beck a while to record the song, and by the time he released it, Wonder's version had been out for a month and was a huge hit. Beck felt shortchanged, and made some statements in the press that Wonder didn't appreciate. In 1975, Beck released an instrumental version of Wonder's "Cause We've Ended As Lovers" on his album Blow By Blow. The album was a hit and helped solidify Beck's reputation as an elite guitarist.

When Wonder turned 21, he was no longer obligated to Motown Records, and used his clout to sign a deal with the label giving him unprecedented control of his music. He got a large share of royalties and publishing rights, and Motown was not allowed to alter the albums once they were delivered. One thing Motown did control, however, were what songs they released as singles. Knowing Jeff Beck was about to record his version, Motown head Berry Gordy made sure this was the first single and released it before Beck could get his out.

Taking a cue from Marvin Gaye, who put musician credits on his album What's Going On, Wonder included credits on Talking Book. On this track, Stevie played Hohner clavinet, drums, and Moog bass. Two of his band members also contributed: Steve Madaio played trumpet and Trevor Lawrence played tenor saxophone.

Jeff Beck finally recorded his own version of this song in December, 1972 with bass player Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice. They recorded as Beck, Bogert and Appice, and while their album did well, their version of this song was hardly noticed.

This was recorded at Electric Lady Studios, which is where Jimi Hendrix recorded. The studios stayed active after his death, with artists like Miles Davis and Deep Purple also recording there.

At the time, Wonder would keep the studio booked so he could record when inspiration hit. Stevie's bass player at the time, Scott Edwards, told us that this was not always convenient for his band. "Because he does not have sight, he's not controlled by daylight," said Scott. "So he may begin his night at midnight. Which is bad, because if they want you to come do an overdub or something, he may call you at 4 a.m. and say, 'Come on in.'"

Several artists besides Jeff Beck have covered this. None made much of an impact until Stevie Ray Vaughan released a live version as a single in 1986 on his album Live Alive. His version is still played on Classic Rock radio, and has grown even more popular since Vaughan's death in 1990.

This song contained many elements of rock music, which helped Wonder extend his appeal to a white audience. Before Talking Book was released, Stevie went on tour with The Rolling Stones, which boosted his credibility in the world of rock. When "Superstition" was released, it was warmly welcomed on the same radio stations that played The Stones, earning Wonder many new fans. It also helped Wonder move past his image as a child star.

This was Wonder's second #1 hit in the US. His first was with "Fingertips (pt.2)" in 1963, which he recorded as "Little" Stevie Wonder.

The album was called Talking Book because wonder considered the songs akin to chapters in a book that tell a whole story. On the cover is a rare photo of Wonder without his sunglasses on.

Raven-Symoné of The Cosby Show and Disney Channel's That's So Raven fame, recorded this for the 2003 Disney movie The Haunted Mansion, starring Eddie Murphy. (thanks, Patrick - Conyers, GA)

Wonder appeared in Bud Light commercials that debuted during the Super Bowl in 2013. As part of the "It's only weird if it doesn't work" campaign, which showed superstitious fans acting compulsively in an effort to steer their teams to victory, Wonder appeared as some kind of witch doctor in New Orleans (where the game took place). Asking, "are you looking for a little mojo?," Wonder then transports our hero to the big game, where he has a voodoo doll to help his cause. The song "Superstition" plays throughout.